| Abstract | 第1-7页 |
| 摘要 | 第7-8页 |
| 前言 | 第8-11页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第11-17页 |
| ·Literature review | 第11-15页 |
| ·About the thesis | 第15-17页 |
| ·The aim of the thesis | 第15-16页 |
| ·The research methods of the thesis | 第16页 |
| ·The structure of the thesis | 第16-17页 |
| Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework | 第17-25页 |
| ·Interpersonal metafunction | 第17-20页 |
| ·The concept of interpersonal metafunction | 第17-18页 |
| ·Interaction in the clause | 第18-20页 |
| ·English tenses | 第20-24页 |
| ·Time and tense | 第20-22页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings of English tenses | 第22-23页 |
| ·Pragmatic interpretation of English tenses | 第23-24页 |
| ·English tenses and the interpersonal metafunction | 第24页 |
| ·Concluding remarks | 第24-25页 |
| Chapter 3 Features of Political Speeches | 第25-29页 |
| ·Features of public speeches | 第25-27页 |
| ·Features of political speeches | 第27-28页 |
| ·The functional approach | 第28-29页 |
| Chapter 4 Interpersonal Meanings of Two Types of Tense | 第29-39页 |
| ·Scope of tenses to be studied in the thesis | 第29页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings of the simple present tense | 第29-33页 |
| ·Reference to present time | 第29-33页 |
| ·Reference to nonpresent time | 第33页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings of the past tense | 第33-38页 |
| ·The past tense expressing a mild tone | 第33-37页 |
| ·The affective meanings of the past tense | 第37-38页 |
| ·Concluding remarks | 第38-39页 |
| Chapter 5 The interpersonal Meanings of Tenses in the First Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate | 第39-58页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings arising from shifts between the past tense and the simple present tense | 第39-42页 |
| ·The interpersonal functions of the tense shift on the sentence level | 第40-42页 |
| ·The interpersonal functions of the tense shift on the discourse level | 第42页 |
| ·The interpersonal functions of finite tenses | 第42-44页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings arising from Bush-Kerry's choices of different tenses | 第44-57页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings arising from comparison among the simple present tense, the simple past tense and the present perfective in the debate | 第45-49页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings arising from comparison among the simple present tense, the simple past tense and the progressive aspect in the debate | 第49-54页 |
| ·The interpersonal meanings arising from comparison of expressions of future time | 第54-57页 |
| ·Concluding remarks | 第57-58页 |
| Chapter 6 Conclusion | 第58-60页 |
| ·Main findings | 第58-59页 |
| ·Limitations and suggestions for further study | 第59-60页 |
| Reference | 第60-62页 |
| Appendix | 第62-101页 |
